[The following is the edited text of the 11 th Pope Paul VI Memorial Lecture, written by Aung San Suu Kyi and delivered by her husband Dr Michael Aris on November 3, 1997 at the Royal Institution of Great Britain, London.] "I sincerely believe that all peoples and creeds can co-exist in peace, that whatever our race or religion, we can all learn to agree on certain basic values essential for the development of human society. 1 am not an authority on either Buddhism or development, but I am strongly concerned with the problems of human existence which fall within the realm of both subjects. In a nutshell, I shall be speaking not as an expert but as a Buddhist and a concerned participant in the process of human development. ... There are peoples in East as in the West who think the worth of a society is measured by its material wealth and by impressive figures of growth, ignoring the injustices and the pain that might lie behind them. Then there are those who believe that development must be measured in terms of human happiness, of peace within the community and of harmony with the environment. And so we come back to loving kindness and Compassion. Paradise on earth is a concept which is outmoded and few people believe in it any more. But we can certainly seek to make our planet a better, happier home for all of us by constructing the heavenly abodes of love and compassion in our hearts. Beginning with this inner development we can go on to the development of the external world with courage and wisdom. "